22. Walker Hill Chartered Accountants

Revenue: $2.65 million
Growth: 139.43%
Founders: Nick Hill (33), Andrew Walker (34)
Head Office: Brisbane, QLD
Employees: 19
Industry: Accounting
Website: walkerhill.com.au

Back in 2012, accountants Nick Hill and Andrew Walker were tired of working for firms that didn’t align with their values and what they wanted to achieve.

Their solution was to quit, starting their own firm Walker Hill in a bid to forge a path through the industry they could both be proud of.

Fast forward six years and they’re sitting on a $2.65 million business that’s grown 139% since 2015-16.

As one would expect, the books are pretty good over at Walker Hill, and in the early days of the business the duo were already calculating return on investment estimates to guide their decision making.

It helped them get through the early stages of being small business owners, when money is tight and investment is high risk.

But business success requires more than just frugality, and by 2017, Walker Hill was ready to take a big risk, merging with another firm to double its clientele overnight.

It also doubled the workload though, creating issues with client communication, process change and staff burnout.

“Resources were strained as the workload quickly grew and processes had to quickly change to adapt,” Hill explains.

But the business got through it, prioritising transparent communication with clients and staff, and today is stronger for having made the move.

Their advice for anyone looking to run a business? Have a partner. Both Hill and Walker say they complement each other — Hill with sales acumen and Walker with an eye for process and operations.

“As cliché as it may sound, this relationship means that ideas are looked at critically from multiple viewpoints before — and this is especially true when it comes to innovation and ideas,” Hill says.